AO4ELT5 Proceedings
Infrared detectors for wavefront sensing
Gach, Jean-Luc (First Light Imaging / LAM), Feautrier, Philippe (First Light Imaging / IPAG), Stadler, Eric (First Light Imaging / IPAG), Clop, Fabien (First Light Imaging), Lemarchand, Stephane (First Light Imaging), Carmignani, Thomas (First Light Imaging), Wanwanscappel, Yann (First Light Imaging), Doucoure, Carine (First Light Imaging), Boutolleau, David (First Light Imaging)
After the development of the OCAM2 EMCCD fast visible camera dedicated to advanced adaptive optics wavefront sensing, First Light Imaging moved to the SWIR fast cameras with the development of the C-RED One and the C-RED 2 cameras. First Light Imaging’s C-RED One infrared camera is capable of capturing up to 3500 full frames per second with a subelectron readout noise and very low background. C-RED One is based on the last version of the SAPHIRA detector developed by Leonardo UK. This breakthrough has been made possible thanks to the use of an e-APD infrared focal plane array which is a real disruptive technology in imagery. C-RED One is an autonomous system with an integrated cooling system and a vacuum regeneration system. It operates its sensor with a wide variety of read out techniques and processes video on-board thanks to an FPGA. We will show its performances and expose its main features. In addition to this project, First Light Imaging developed an InGaAs 640x512 fast camera with unprecedented performances in terms of noise, dark and readout speed based on the SNAKE SWIR detector from Sofradir. The camera was called C-RED 2. The C-RED 2 characteristics and performances will be described.
DOI: 10.26698/AO4ELT5.0149- Proceeding PDF
